


Baby Girl

by beargirl1393



Category: Life and Death: Twilight Revisited, Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Blood Drinking, Earnest's daughter didn't really die, F/M, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rule 63, Vampires, based on the new book, possible spoilers for the new book
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-04-26 19:19:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5017126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beargirl1393/pseuds/beargirl1393
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even though it's been over eighty years since Earnest was changed, he still mourns for his daughter. What happens when he and Carine run into someone who claims to be Earnest's daughter, who didn't really die that day at the cliff?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I have a lot of other WIPs that I'm working on, I know, but I just finished reading the new Twilight book, 'Life and Death: Twilight Revisited', and I had a thought. What would happen if Earnest's daughter had somehow survived that day on the cliff? And thus this story was born.
> 
> Fair warning, this goes off of the new book for the timeline and events, but some things will be taken from the other books and movies.

“Thinking about them again?” a soft voice asked from behind Earnest, and he turned slightly to face Carine, sighing softly when he saw his mate’s worried expression.

“I can’t help it,” he admitted. “It has been over eighty years, and I still cannot accept it. My beautiful little Grace…if Charmaine had truly hated our marriage that much, I would have allowed her to leave. All I wished for was to raise my daughter, and then…”

“That chance was stolen from you,” Carine finished gently, moving over to stand by Earnest at the windows in their bedroom, looking out on the forest. “If I could have, I would have saved her, Earnest. But you know the laws against turning children. You were the only one I could save.”

Earnest nodded, he had never blamed Carine for not saving his daughter. He loved his new life with Carine more than he had thought possible, his loving wife and their adopted children, which now included Beau, and he didn’t regret Carine changing him.

But he still mourned the loss of his daughter and wished that she had been given the opportunity to live, the future that her mother had denied her.

“Come, let us hunt,” Carine suggested, rubbing his back soothingly. “I have a shift soon, and the children will be back by nightfall.”

Edythe and Beau had spent the day together in their meadow, Archie and Royal had dragged Eleanor and Jessamine along with them to go shopping, and Carine and Earnest had enjoyed having the house to themselves for a time. They loved their children, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t take advantage of having the house to themselves for the day.

Earnest took Carine’s hand, running with his wife out of the house and towards the forest. They would need to plan a proper hunting trip at some point, perhaps when Carine had a day or two off work, or on the next sunny day, but for now deer would be sufficient for them both.

“Do you think that Beau will be able to go to school with the others when we move?” Carine asked, trying to get Earnest’s mind off of the past. “He will only be slightly over a year old, but he is showing such promise already.”

“He is doing better than I did, or any of the others so far,” Earnest agreed. “It was surprising, but rather fortunate. Perhaps his foreknowledge of the subject helped? He was prepared for the thirst and many of the other challenges.”

“Perhaps,” Carine said thoughtfully. “I doubt we will ever know for certain, however.” It was fascinating, honestly, charting his progress and attempting to discover why Beau was able to so easily resist the lure of human blood within days of his transformation.

They both slowed their pace as they approached the herd of deer, watching them for a moment. The animals were so peaceful, unaware of the predators just feet away from them.

Carine’s head jerked to the left suddenly, her eyes narrowing. Earnest listened, catching what his wife had heard a second before. Someone was running through the forest.

It wasn’t a human, obviously, as they were running much too quickly and quietly for that. It also wasn’t one of the wolves, the smell was all wrong. It was another vampire, but not one of their family. They knew what each member of their little family sounded like and smelled like, there was no mistaking it.

“I wonder why Archie didn’t notify us that there would be a stranger visiting,” Carine murmured.

“Perhaps it was a spur of the moment decision, not all trips are planned as carefully as ours,” Earnest replied.

The new vampire reached them before Carine could reply, darting into the herd of deer and easily picking off the fattest buck. Her teeth pierced it’s neck easily and she started to drink, apparently unaware of her audience. For their part, Carine and Earnest were surprised that she was drinking animal blood. It was rare to come across another who did as they did, after all. Their friends in Denali were currently the only ones they knew who abstained from human blood.

But when the new vampire raised her head, letting the drained deer fall to the ground, her eyes were the same warm butterscotch as their own were. Her lips were bright with blood, her tongue darting out to lick them clean seemingly without conscious thought, and she stood still as she noticed them, watching them warily. Clearly she was debating between standing her ground and fleeing.

“We won’t harm you,” Earnest said, stepping forward. The poor girl didn’t look that old, she had likely been a teenager when she was turned, and he thought there was something familiar about her.

Carine moved forward with Earnest, in case the young one turned violent. He tried to guess when she had been turned, but failed. She wasn’t a newborn, that much was clear, but beyond that she could be any age. The wariness in her eyes certainly didn’t belong on the face of such a young girl. There was something about her, however, something familiar that she wasn’t able to place.

The girl stared at Earnest with wide eyes, seemingly oblivious to Carine’s presence. Her eyes narrowed as she tilted her head to the side, and Earnest shifted, slightly uncomfortable under such intense scrutiny, before her eyes widened.

“You…it’s really you,” she breathed, causing Earnest and Carine to look at each other in confusion before turning back to the girl. “I never thought I would be able to find you.

“Do you know us?” Carine asked, although she was doubtful. She didn’t believe that she had ever met this young woman, unless she had been a patient long ago.

“I don’t know you,” she admitted, looking at Carine before turning to Earnest. “But you…” She rummaged in the small pack she had upon her back, withdrawing a small, obviously old, black and white photograph. A child, a girl with long hair, was hugging a young adult, obviously her father going by the resemblance. With a start, both Cullens realized that it was a picture of Earnest with his daughter, taken not long before she was killed. 

“Where did you get this?” Earnest asked, taking the picture reverently.

The girl looked down for a moment, seeming to be attempting to gather herself. “My name is Grace Platt. I’m your daughter.”


	2. Chapter 2

Carine felt the shudder that went through her mate at the sound of his daughter’s name. It had been long since Earnest had gone by his last name, when he joined Carine and Edythe, he had simply assumed the same last name that they had. Of course, they all had to change their names from time to time, on records and such, so his last name had been used once or twice, but for the most part Earnest considered himself a Cullen and rarely thought back to when he had been Earnest Platt, unless it was mourning his daughter.

“How…you would have to be…” Earnest couldn’t get his thoughts together, staring at the dark haired woman across from them. Her hair was long, trailing down her back, and he could see leaves and twigs tangled in from when she had been running. It was dark brown, but he could see lighter, caramel colored highlights that matched his hair. Her face was soft, although it had lost the little baby fat that he could remember it having when he last saw his daughter.

That was one human memory that he had never been able to forget.

“Perhaps we should discuss this at home,” Carine suggested, resting her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “If Archie has seen this, no doubt the others will return soon. It would be best to be comfortable during this conversation regardless.”

The other two agreed with him, so the newcomer, Grace, trailed Carine and Earnest as they ran back to the house. Once all three were settled, Carine and Earnest sitting side by side on the couch and Grace settled across from them on the chair, she began her story.

“I don’t have many human memories left,” Grace admitted, folding her hands in her lap and looking over at Carine and Earnest. “I remember my father’s laugh, his smile. I remember my mother shouting, my father taking me away when he could. Beyond that…the last memory I have of my childhood is the day they died.”

Earnest looked pale, and Carine took his hand gently, letting him squeeze it as tightly as he needed.

“My mother had taken me away from the house, running with me up the path to the mountains. My father woke when he heard my shouting and ran after us, but she had a head start and she was quite mad.” Grace’s voice was soft, her eyes focused on her hands rather than looking at the vampires across from her. “He had nearly caught us, he called my name and I screamed for him, and then my mother jumped off of the cliff. She was killed in the fall, I was cushioned by her body and so, although badly injured, I lived to see my father jump as well.”

Earnest’s eyes closed as he recalled that horrible day, seeing his terrified baby girl held captive in his wife’s arms, the deranged look in Charmaine’s eyes before she jumped, sending them both to what he had believed to be their death.

“My father was taken to the morgue, my mother was as well,” Grace continued. “I was taken into surgery, and somehow I survived. My mother was buried, my father’s body had been misplaced. When I healed enough to walk, although I had permanent damage to my spine from the fall, my father’s family took me in. They were quick to cover up any rumors, claiming it was an accident rather than homicide and suicide.” Some little things she remembered, the rest had been pieced together after she was changed.

“Where did you get the picture?” Earnest asked softly. He still held it carefully in his other hand, alternately staring at it and his daughter. “My family…did they try to…”

“They wanted an arranged marriage for me,” Grace admitted. “A week before my twentieth birthday, they announced that they had found a man for me. I stormed from the house regardless of the gathering shadows, furious at what they had planned. I went and sat in the park, taking solace in the quiet and believing myself to be alone.”

“But you weren’t,” Carine added, seeing Grace nod. At night, alone in a park…it was unsurprising that the vampire who turned her would choose to take her there.

“I found out later that he was lonely,” Grace continued, sighing and looking up at them. “He intended for me to be his mate, I believe, although I left before that.”

“You left?” Earnest questioned, looking at Grace worriedly. “As a newborn?”

“He explained what I had become, the rules…by the time he ended, I was so disgusted that I just ran,” Grace admitted. “I ran to the cliff and threw myself off, and was able to stand without so much as a scratch. I felt thirsty, and it repulsed me. I stayed in the forest, loathe to harm anyone to feed my new, unnatural, desires. While I was wandering, I stumbled upon a herd of deer…”

“And you realized that you needn’t kill humans to survive,” Carine finished, Grace nodding.

“It was an accident, but I was grateful for it. Once I had a better grip on myself, I broke into the house and took some of my things, a few sets of clothes, my favorite books, and the album with pictures of my father in it. Then I left, too afraid of the temptation of human blood to stay in civilization yet.”

“How did you come to be in Forks?” Carine asked, her thumb rubbing soothing circles on Earnest’s hand. It looked like his mate was restraining himself from moving to hug his daughter, and tears would likely be flowing freely down his face were he still human, not that Carine could blame him. For decades, he had thought Grace was dead, and now she was sitting across from them.

They would need to have Edythe confirm the story, of course, but it rang true, and she had learned to trust her instincts by now.

“I don’t have a set place to stay,” Grace replied, shrugging lightly. “I travel everywhere, staying as long as I can without raising suspicions before moving on. Forks is supposed to be the most sunless place in the United States, so I decided to come and see if it lived up to it’s reputation, maybe even enroll in school again.”

“How have you managed to avoid questions about your parents?” Earnest asked curiously.

“I usually say that my father is dead and I became emancipated rather than live with my mother, as she was an alcoholic,” Grace said simply. “If anyone asks, at any rate. It’s worked thus far, although I don’t always bother.”

Carine and Earnest both nodded, easily able to understand that. They had gone through the same thing several times, after all. “We’ve been monopolizing the conversation, I’m afraid,” Carine continued after a moment. “I’m sure you have questions for us.”

“Only a hundred or two,” Grace said dryly, causing all three to laugh. Earnest finally got to his feet, hesitantly hugging Grace when she rose as well. His eyes closed as she hugged him back, feeling Carine’s hand rubbing soothing circles on his back.

“I’ve missed you, you have no idea…” he murmured, eyes stinging as he was unable to shed tears. So many years had been wasted, but they now had eternity. He hadn’t lost his daughter.

“I always wanted to meet you,” Grace replied, equally softly. “When I was changed…I knew it was possible that you honestly had died but…I didn’t want to give up hope. I hoped that something had happened so that you weren’t dead, that I would be able to talk to you.”

“Now you both have all of the time in the world, God willing,” Carine replied, and both nodded. Earnest wanted to know more about Grace’s life and Grace was equally interested in Earnest and Carine, as well as the family they’d mentioned, but they had time for that now. For the moment, they simply enjoyed being together.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Halloween, since I can't afford to give out candy this year, I decided to do something else and update each of my WIPs on this site.

After a few moments more, Earnest and Grace parted sheepishly. Carine thought, with a small amount of amusement, that both would be blushing if it were possible. They retook their seats, Carine and Earnest back on the couch and Grace in the chair opposite them, although she seemed slightly less shy now that her story had been told.

Before any of them could say anything else, although Earnest hadn’t been sure what to say and he thought that Carine and Grace had faced the same predicament, the sound of Edythe’s Volvo reached the ears of the elder two vampires.

Edythe and Beau were in the house seconds later, both staring at the new visitor. “So Archie was right,” Edythe murmured. “He called while we were in the meadow.”

“What did he see?” Carine asked, curious. She had assumed that Archie would see something about their guest, but she wasn’t sure how much he would see. His visions could be fickle at times.

“He claimed that he saw Earnest’s daughter talking to you both,” Beau said, looking between Earnest and Grace with evident curiosity. “Edythe said it was impossible…”

“It _is_ impossible,” Edythe muttered. “Earnest saw it, you have heard the story yourself.”

“I was badly injured, but I didn’t die,” Grace corrected, sighing softly. “I didn’t plan for this, I honestly didn’t know that any others were in the area. I simply came here because I thought that the most sunless place in the United States would be a good place to stay for a few years. But when I saw him…he looked almost exactly like he did in the pictures.”

Edythe could see the honesty on her face and could read it in her thoughts, but it was still unbelievable. In the decades that Earnest had been with their family, the loss of his daughter had always haunted him. Not constantly, but it would be evident, even without her gift, for Edythe to see when his thoughts turned to his daughter. She knew that Earnest often wondered if his daughter would have grown to be anything like her, which was flattering, but none of them had ever expected to have an answer to that question.

“What will you be doing now?” Edythe asked, thoughts jumping to another relevant point. The girl was here now, but for how long? Would she leave, moving on to another city? Or would she stay, getting to know Earnest and promising to visit when she finally did need to leave them?

Or would she join their family, staying with them indefinitely? That was a possibility, Edythe acknowledged, as her lifestyle already matched theirs and she knew that Earnest would not want to let Grace go now that he finally had her back, but it would be up to the girl to decide.

“I don’t know,” Grace said honestly, shaking her head. “I planned on cleaning up a little and trying to find a room somewhere in town, but that had been before…” Before she had met Carine and Earnest.

“You are welcome to stay here,” Earnest offered, looking over at Carine, who nodded.

“Your hunting habits pose no threat to our cover, and we will be moving rather soon,” Carine said, grimacing at the thought.

“You have to move?” Grace asked, startled. “Have you truly been here that long?”

Earnest shook his head. “No, but it is…quite a long story.”

Beau wondered when someone would tell Grace about the wolves, but thinking about that had his eyes widening, turning to Edythe with alarm. “The pack will think that you broke the treaty, that Carine turned Grace.”

“We will sort it out, Beau,” Carine said calmly, smiling faintly although she was slightly worried about that fact. “We will explain to the pack what happened, and that Grace, although now part of our coven if she wishes to be, was not turned by any of us, nor is she a newborn.” Turning to the new vampire, who was listening to the conversation with evident puzzlement, Carine said, “Edythe and Beau are two of our adopted ‘children’, and part of our coven.”

“Part of?” Grace questioned. “Do you have more than two adopted children?”

“There are others,” Carine agreed. “Royal, Eleanor, Jessamine, and Archie are all out shopping at present, but you will be able to meet them soon.”

Grace was clearly startled, not that any of the others could blame her. Vampires usually traveled alone or in pairs, groups of three were usually the largest group to be found. There were startlingly few exceptions, so it was unsurprising that she was startled by a larger group.

“I’ve never come across another coven this side, aside from the Voltorri,” Grace admitted, shaking her head. “I wasn’t aware that any others lived in such large groups.”

“You have been to Italy?” Earnest asked. Carine remained the only one in their family to have ever actually met the Voltorri, although he knew that if he asked, Carine would arrange a trip to Volterra so that they could be introduced. He honestly wasn’t sure how to feel, knowing that his daughter had met the rulers of their world alone. Sulpicia was a fairly benevolent vampire, but she and the others could be intimidating, or so he had heard.

“A few years ago, yes,” Grace replied, nodding. “I had heard others speaking of the Voltorri, when I would run into others of our kind, and it made me curious. So, I took a trip to Italy, to meet them and see what they were like.”

“What were they like?” Beau asked, curious. He had been informed about the Voltorri, of course, but he was still interested in learning more about them.

“They were gracious hosts, and ensured animals were brought for me when I declined joining them when they fed,” Grace replied. “Sulpicia attempted to convince me to try a more ‘natural’ food source, but when I declined, none of them pressed. A few of the members of the guard actually tried animal blood, although I had left before I learned how they found it.”

“Why did you leave?” Carine was pleased that Sulpicia had apparently learned better than to continue to try to convince another to change their feeding habits after they had declined.

“I had spent a few years with them, and although they were gracious hosts, there were still so many things I wanted to see, and so I left.” Grace had wanted to explore, and to keep searching for her father, and so she had left the Voltorri, although she had promised to visit again.

The sound of tires approaching the house reached all of their ears, and Earnest smiled ruefully at Grace.

“It appears that the second round of questioning will begin soon.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for Grace's power the first time I read the new Twilight, although at that point it was more of a 'I wonder if any vampires have x power'. Then when I started writing this, I decided it would be Grace's power just because I thought it was a cool idea.

Archie had already told Jessamine, Royal, and Eleanor about what he had seen, so they were rather caught up on everything by the time they reached the house.

It saved Grace having to repeat herself, which she was grateful for. She barely knew these people, she hated having to reveal everything about herself just to get them to trust her. It was necessary, she wanted to be able to talk to her father, but she hated having to bare everything to convince them to trust her when she still didn’t know if she trusted them. She trusted her father, and the doctor, but the others, she didn’t know.

The others’ opinions of her varied, although they all did believe that she was telling the truth and was truly Earnest’s daughter, regardless of how unbelievable it seemed to be.

Archie was smug, as he had told them that Grace was Earnest’s daughter, and none of them had believed her until they had met her for themselves and had Edythe confirm her story.

Jessamine believed Archie, but was still wary of the newcomer. It was instinct at this point, left over from when she had first awoken into her new life. The girl didn’t seem to be a threat, her emotions mainly revolved around happiness at having finally found Earnest, curiosity about their lifestyle, and irritation at how much she had been forced to share. Wariness was present as well, but Jessamine could respect that. Not everyone bonded as quickly to strangers as Archie did, after all. She thought about using her gift, everyone’s emotions were fluctuating and she could calm them down, but she decided against it. She didn’t know if the girl had been warned or not yet and didn’t want to scare her off. Earnest was happier than she’d ever seen him, and she didn’t want that to change.

Eleanor was happy that Earnest was happy, and a bit curious about where this girl had gone during her travels. She was also planning on asking Grace to arm wrestle, maybe mock fight, and definitely planning on having the girl join in on their next baseball game. She wanted to know about the newbie, and aside from Beau (who didn’t count because he was a newborn), she had yet to find someone who matched her strength.

Royal had listened to the story, still mildly disbelieving that Earnest’s daughter was alive. Still, he knew the story was true, especially with Edythe confirming it, and it made him think about his own circumstances. The girl didn’t seem like the type of meek, mild-mannered woman that most rich men would’ve been looking for back then. Someone to cook and clean and give them a few children, but not much more than that. She would’ve been too stubborn, too outspoken, and he doubted that things would have gone well for her. He would have never chosen this life for himself, but even he could agree that this was the best option for Grace.

Edythe was still rather surprised that the girl was here. She knew that there was something the girl wasn’t telling them, about why the Voltorri had been so interested in her, but she couldn’t figure out what it was as Grace wasn’t actively thinking about it. Still, it seemed like the girl would explain in time, so she would simply have to be patient until then.

Beau was just surprised that Grace was alive, but was glad that Earnest had gotten his daughter back. He might not have known Earnest for anywhere near as long as the others, but even he could tell that Earnest had deeply regretted what happened to his daughter and had wished that things had happened differently. That day on the cliff had haunted him, and Beau hoped that he would be able to move past it now.

Earnest was still in stunned disbelief that Grace, his little Grace, was back. Of course, she wasn’t exactly as he remembered her. Then, she had been a carefree child whose only brush with any darker emotions came from when her mother was in a rage, and he had shielded her from that as best he could. Now, decades had passed since that day on the cliff, and while some things had changed, he was relieved to see that everything hadn’t. And he was also hopeful, even if he wouldn’t push the subject, that she would stay with their family rather than moving on once her time in Forks was done.

Carine, for her part, was glad that Earnest had reunited with his daughter while remaining curious about why the Voltorri had been so accommodating to her. Sulpicia was a fairly benevolent ruler, but she also hadn’t stopped trying to convince Carine to try a more ‘natural’ food source. Yet Grace had been entirely honest when she said that none of the Voltorri had pushed her to drink human blood, and that they had actually provided animals for her.

She wanted to know why, whether the change had merely come from the passing years or from the woman in front of them, so she cleared her throat to get Grace’s attention, smiling at her before deciding to be direct. “Volterra is a lovely city, I am surprised that you didn’t stay longer than you did.”

Grace smiled, shaking her head. “I did enjoy my time, and Sulpicia, Athenodora, and Marcus all attempted to convince me to stay with them, but the last lead I had on my father was in America, and so I thought that would be the best place to search for him. And it was, in the end, so I’m glad that I did decide to leave.”

“Might I ask why they were so insistent? They are gracious hosts, but I have only rarely heard of them attempting to convince another to stay with them,” Carine continued, even more certain that there was something about this young vampire that she wasn’t telling them. Perhaps a gift, and she was uncertain about alienating them. “Do you have a…gift? Like Sulpicia, or Mele, perhaps?”

Grace blinked, clearly surprised, but she nodded. “My gift is similar to Mele’s, actually. You know that she can take someone else’s gift and give it to another?” Carine acknowledged that she did know of the gift, as did the others, and so Grace continued. “My gift is similar, as I cannot permanently take another’s gift, nor can I give it away. But I can…copy it, and use it for myself. Sulpicia experimented with it, having her tracker and several others touch me. They still had their gifts, yet I had them as well but while I could use them, I couldn’t pass them on.”

“That is an interesting gift,” Carine mused. It was a reverse of Mele’s, in essence. She could take the gifts, but not pass them on, and it was less like stealing and more like copying them. It made sense that Sulpicia would want to hold onto her, she could be a valuable asset to them. “And they simply let you leave, without an argument?” Sulpicia wasn’t as ruthless as Aro had been, none of them were, but she was smart enough to want to keep an asset with them if she could.

Grace shook her head. “They all asked, and showed me all that could be offered by joining them, but I was firm. They told me that the offer was open at any time, and if I found my father, I could bring him with me.” She smiled as she looked at Earnest. “I don’t think that would happen, he has already found a family, and I would be more inclined to try to join rather than to take him away.”

Everyone was visibly relieved by that, Earnest especially. She was planning to stay with them, at least for the foreseeable future, so he had time to reconnect with her.

Eleanor, however, was curious about what gifts she already had. “Can you give us a demo?” she asked, grinning. “What’s the coolest gift you’ve copied already?”

Grace chuckled self-consciously, but smiled. “Well, I’ve traveled a bit, despite my insistence that I would find you, and some of my wanderings took me to the Amazon. I met a woman there who could project visions, make people see things that aren’t there. She taught me how to use the gift before I left, I think it’s pretty interesting.” And it was also one that was capable of being either good or bad, depending on how it was used.

“Well, let’s see it,” Eleanor replied, when it seemed like Grace wasn’t going to show them. “Come on, you can’t just mention something like that and not give us a demonstration.”

Grace tried to pass them off, demonstrating how she could copy and use Edythe’s gift, but they were all interested in seeing what she had mentioned, creating visions and making them see them. Carine knew the Amazons, apparently, but she had never experienced their gift and so was interested in a demonstration. So, with a sigh, Grace gave in.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two of the Cullens' dreams are shown, but the others will be discussed later on.

Royal looked around the living room, frowning when it was empty. They had all been gathered in the living room, and he would have known if they had left. The room was different as well, he noticed, pictures he liked on the walls, different touches with the furniture or colors…it was how he had always imagined his dream home to be decorated, before he had realized how fruitless such things were.

His clothes were different as well, as he was wearing a suit and looked like he was dressed for a day at an office. Before he could move, intending to try to figure out what was going on, he heard footsteps approaching. He tensed, not sure what was happening, but he certainly didn’t expect the small, dark hair child running towards him.

The girl hugged him around his knees, looking up at him with Eleanor’s irrepressible smile and his eyes. “Daddy’s home,” she said enthusiastically, in a tone that was half a shout. “Daddy, I was really good today and helped Mommy and everything!”

Royal stared in shock, picking up the child when she held up her arms. There was no denying it, the girl was a perfect blend of Eleanor and himself, but…that was impossible. Then he heard footsteps behind him, and when he turned, he saw Eleanor. Eleanor as she was before Carine had changed her on his request, tanned skin and bright blue eyes and her normal impish smile.

“Give your dad time to get in the door before you jump on him, monkey,” she teased, taking the girl and tossing her gently above her, catching her easily.  “How was work?” she asked. “There were a lot of city slickers on the trails today, watching them jump at the slightest noise was hilarious.”

Royal noticed a mirror on the wall and walked to it. He listened to Eleanor talking about her day and the random amusing points while he stared in the mirror in disbelief. His eyes were the same violet blue they had been when he was alive, his skin had a faint tan…he felt for a pulse, eyes wide when he felt one. He was alive, Eleanor was alive…they had a life together, a normal, vampire-free life. They had a daughter, perhaps more children that he couldn’t see yet…whatever gift the new vampire had, he hoped that she didn’t stop using it.

* * *

 

Edythe looked around the room, frowning in confusion.  Everyone was gone, she couldn’t hear their thoughts any longer, and she had no idea where they were, or where she was. Some things about the room were the same, the grand piano was still where it always sat, but the room was decorated differently, even the furniture the same colors and styles that she preferred and had decorated her room with.

She jumped, startled, when she felt arms wrap around her from behind, and she turned her head to see Beau. Beau as he was before that tracker had gotten to him, with his pale skin that flushed so easily, his blue eyes that showed so much of his emotions…it was impossible, but she thought that, if she tilted her head just right, she would be able to smell, faintly, the same scent that had hypnotized her from the first.

Turning around, planning on pulling out of his arms and asking what was going on, Edythe froze when she saw her appearance in the mirror on the far wall. Messy bronze hair and pale skin, not at all abnormal, but her eyes…her eyes were a beautiful green, a shade that she only remembered seeing in Carine’s memories from before she was turned.

She was human, they were both human. Beau hadn’t sacrificed his humanity to be with her, hadn’t needed to give up his family…they could be together without the guilt and pain and fear that had plagued them before his change, or even right after. She wasn’t entirely sure what Grace was doing, but she hoped it would last.

* * *

 

All the assembled vampires gasped when suddenly the pretty pictures they had seen disappeared. It had all felt so real…Royal actually snarled as he turned to face Grace, whose expression was resigned.

“Bring it back!” he demanded, moving over to stand in front of Grace, hands clenched into fists at his side. “Whatever you did…change it back! Bring back the other reality.”

“It wasn’t real, Royal,” Edythe said softly. She mourned the reality that Grace had shown her, one that would never have been possible but had been a wish of hers since she had fallen for Beau, but she had realized, once the images disappeared, that her demonstrations were the waking dreams that she, that they all, had just seen. “They were just projections of our fantasies, nothing more.”

“It’s not real. I could make you see anything, but it wouldn’t be real,” Grace added softly. “I could have projected insects crawling on you, or a beautiful day at the beach, or anything else, but it wouldn’t be real.”

“It was my _life_ ,” Royal snapped, stepping closer to her. Eleanor put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. “You had no right…”

“I told you that I didn’t want to do it,” Grace snapped back, not backing down. “I told you that I didn’t want to do it, that I would demonstrate any of my other skills, but none of you listened. So I showed you all your fondest, most impossible dreams to show you _why_ I didn’t want to do this. I don’t like…treating these things lightly. I don’t like meddling in people’s heads or making them see things that aren’t there. I hate it, and it’s part of the reason why I left Italy.”

“Sulpicia wanted you to use your gifts?” Carine questioned, hoping to diffuse the tension between Royal and Grace, but although the girl nodded, she didn’t look away from Royal.

“She said that sometimes there were vampires who didn’t follow the rules and needed punished. They all said that I would be an asset, they would make sure no one innocent was ever hurt…but I don’t want to use it unless I have to,” Grace admitted.

“Which is why you picked one of the more difficult aspects of this gift now. Worst fears are terrifying, but it can be more devastating to show someone their dreams and then reveal that it was never possible to have them,” Jessamine replied, and Grace nodded in agreement. She could understand why the girl had done it, but she was also unsurprised that Royal was reacting this way. He was always a little more bullheaded than the rest of them.

“Can I please just…take a shower and get cleaned up? I’ll answer whatever other questions you have later, just…not now,” Grace said tiredly. If she were human, she would have likely gone to bed and slept for a week, but as it stood, she would settle for a shower and clean clothes.

Archie was the one to offer to show her to the guest room, unsurprisingly, babbling about spare clothes from Carine that he thought would fit her as they disappeared upstairs. The other Cullens stayed downstairs, each lost in their own thoughts about what they had seen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay between chapters, RL was busy and I was having problems getting this chapter the way I wanted it. Thanks to iggy98 who read and commented on a fair few chapters, and gave me a few thoughts toward plot points in later chapters.

“That was…intense,” Archie said after a moment, pitching his voice low enough that there was less chance that they would be heard downstairs. It wasn’t a guarantee, of course, especially with Edythe as she could read their thoughts, but she generally tried to keep from deliberately eavesdropping and Archie was used to it by now. He didn’t think the vampire beside him was, however, hence the illusion of privacy.

“I _am_ sorry about that,” Grace admitted, running her fingers through her hair and absently picking out a leaf. “I just…it’s not even been two hours since I found out that my father was alive, and I’ve spent most of it answering questions rather than being able to ask any. And then I had to show off one of the aspects of my gift that I am not fond of, as though it was a party trick…I could have simply declined, but I have something of a temper at times and I just…wanted you all to stop asking.”

“Sorry about that,” Archie said, leading her to the nearest free bedroom, grateful that Carine had decided to have en-suites installed in each bedroom when she had the house built. He perched on the bed while Grace set her bag down and riffled through it for clean clothes. “If Carine and Earnest realize you felt like that, they’ll feel guilty.”

“I know, and I don’t want them to feel guilty,” Grace said, sighing. “I don’t mind answering their questions, truly. It makes sense that they are curious, the Volturri were as well. I just would like to be able to have a few of my own questions answered as well as being permitted to clean up before any further questions are asked. I fed intermittently on my way here, so at the very least I am not hungry.”

“Were you serious downstairs? You’ve really never tasted human blood?” Archie asked, curious.

“Yes, I was,” Grace said simply. “After I was turned, I was just so…repulsed. That vampire had just…decided that his wants were more important than mine. That just because he was lonely, it gave him the right to take my life.”

“You know, Carine did the same thing with your father, and Edythe. And Royal and Eleanor,” Archie pointed out, because he could see where she was coming from, but it was also fairly close to what Carine did.

“Carine only turned my father because he was dying,” Grace pointed out. That question had gotten answered, at least. “And it was the same with Edythe, Royal, and Eleanor. All of them were dying, they had no life to steal. If she hadn’t turned them, they would be dead. When that vampire turned me, I was as healthy as one could expect. I had difficulty walking, because of my back injury, and I had to be very careful as one more fall would’ve been it, but I was in no danger of dying. Well, none that I know of, one can never tell the future.” That was said with an amused look in his direction, and Archie laughed.

“Well, I can, but maybe you’re right,” he teased, and Grace smiled.

“My point is that he decided that his desires were more important than mine, that his feelings were all that mattered,” Grace continued. “And that he saw nothing wrong with it. He expected me to be _grateful_ to him, and to grow to love him. I ran as soon as night fell.”

“Where did you go?” Archie asked curiously. He didn’t remember being human and since learning what his human life had been like, he knew he wouldn’t miss it even if he had remembered.

“I ran, out of town and into the forest,” Grace admitted. “I knew that I had to be away from people, just the thought of blood was enough to make my thirst even worse. The thought of actually drinking blood repulsed me. I didn’t really know where I was running to, but I finally stopped at the edge of a cliff. The same cliff where my mother and father had died, I realized, and so I thought that it was as good of a place as any. My grandparents would want nothing to do with me now that I was unable to give them what they desired, and I refused to become like the one who turned me. So, I jumped off the cliff, expecting to fall to my death. Instead, I stood without so much as a scratch.”

“It must have been a shock,” Archie said. His own awakening had been confusing, but his premonitions had helped him. If it weren’t for that, he didn’t know what he would have done.

“Entirely, as I nearly died as a child at the same cliff, and my parents did die, or so I thought,” Grace replied, sighing. “So, I wandered the forest for days, stumbling onto a herd of deer by chance. By then, I was so thirsty that I couldn’t resist.”

“And that’s when you figured it out,” Archie said, nodding. Carine would be intrigued, he didn’t doubt, as it was rare that they met vampires who developed a conscience, as they called it, without having spoken to others like them, ones who abstained from drinking human blood.

“After that, I stayed in the forest for awhile, hunting regularly and occasionally going as near as I could stand to the humans who ventured in,” Grace continued. “Exposure therapy, I guess you could call it. I was getting used to the scent of human blood, and learning how to resist my body’s desire for it. It took time, but of course that was one thing I didn’t lack, before I was confident enough to sneak back to my grandparents’ house. Already my human memories were dim compared to my crystal clear vampire memories, and there were some things that I didn’t want to forget. So, I broke into my old room, stealing my prized possessions and leaving before anyone awoke. That was the last time I spoke to them.”

“What happened to the old vampire, the one who turned you?” Archie questioned. He was surprised that she hadn’t been tracked down, as if their own recent troubles had taught them anything, it was the persistence of their kind.

“He’s dead,” Grace said simply. She had been picking the various leaves and twigs from her hair, garnered while running, most likely, and she had a sizeable pile already. She’d been running for a long time, apparently. “Sulpicia ensured that.”

“The leader of the Volturri? Why would she-?” Archie started to question, but Grace just raised a hand.

“Please, let me shower and change, you can fill the rest of your family in about what I’ve told you, and then when I come down I will answer more questions,” Grace said tiredly. She wished that she could sleep, one of the few things she missed about her human life, but a hot shower would have to be enough to restore her equilibrium and prepare her for more questions. Even if she understood why they were all so curious, that didn’t mean that she enjoyed it.

Archie wasn’t entirely pleased, he was curious about why the Volturri would concern themselves with one vampire so far from their home, but as Grace disappeared from the room, he headed downstairs. He could do as she said and answer a few of the others’ questions, and perhaps Earnest would answer a few as well.


End file.
